audit: avoid dropping live tree ref on fsnotify rule autoremove
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 7 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: audit: avoid dropping live tree ref on fsnotify rule autoremove audit_del_rule() is used for both netlink deletion templates and internal fsnotify autoremove. The former passes a parsed template which owns a temporary tree reference; the latter passes the installed entry itself. The unconditional audit_put_tree() at the end of audit_del_rule() assumes the template case. For mixed AUDIT_DIR plus AUDIT_EXE rules, an fsnotify autoremove event therefore drops the installed rule's live tree reference. Repeating this across rules sharing the same tree can free the tree while another rule still references it, and a later autoremove dereferences the freed pathname while comparing rules. Move the temporary-tree put to audit_rule_change(), the caller that owns deletion templates. Keep it in the AUDIT_DEL_RULE cleanup so both successful deletion and -ENOENT still release the parser-owned tree. [PM: dropped unnecessary comment for line length reasons]
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.270, 5.15.221, 6.1.188, 6.6.157, 6.12.109, 6.18.50, 7.2.4, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-89643
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-qh9h-fg7c-vgxw
- 2026-10-18 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9cac21f8eb82675ed19fb955b8bbb9dd14cc3d58
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b322cc7adcd2e6ec1594d187533a126506ab545c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/695c85dc345a4e0292739f004c261bedef3f27e6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/01b0ec8c397be65ff710777c97017ca1de56ef8e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cf37b61b5420fd4600fe78cf8c24da6e4d9bfe28
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/636a99bab36ba27515363d325866c0273ac83b3e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/583cf579b32d99e3fe4e9c8ecc4d852e3708fbec
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/783f0f0974c156aca630f4ffff248671082a098d
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Sources
- CVE-2026-89643 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-89643 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-qh9h-fg7c-vgxw · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-89643 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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